Perfect Enemy
by ParadiseAvenger
Summary: MOVED! Jace had waited for years for Valentine Morgenstern's capture, anticipating his revenge for his parents' brutal murder. When Valentine's daughter is caught instead, she isn't half the monster Jace had expected. Or is she? Adult Themes. Slight Alternate Universe. Secret Pairing. MOVED!
1. Morgenstern's Arrival

Please, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! The Breaking of Poisonwood by Paradise Avenger. (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected _this_. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The _Poisonwood_—)

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Anyway, I have **MOVED** this story **COMPLETELY** to another site. You can find this **STORY** and all its subsequent **UPDATES **here, just remove the spaces and asterisks (*): archiveofourown. o*r*g /works/963999

I have the same penname there as I do here: ParadiseAvenger

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I just finished reading the first book for this series and I watched the movie (which I liked) so I of course had to write some fanfiction for it.

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It was early when Jace Wayland (1) was woken from a dead sleep by the very thing he had spent years training himself to sense. Infused with more angel blood and demonic malice than was natural for any Shadowhunter, he sensed Morgenstern's blood. It felt like smoke slinking through the deepest halls of the Institute, invading his home like a plague. Immediately, Jace threw himself out of bed, grabbed up his favorite Seraph blade, and ran out into the hallway.

Heart pounding, he raced through the halls of the Institute and cleared the stairs in one leap. His bare feet were soundless save for a soft slap as he landed on the cool marble. Gripping the blade low at his side, he peered around the corner in the direction where he sensed Morgenstern's presence. There were five shadowed figures at the bend in the hallway, murmuring so quietly that Jace couldn't make out what they were saying. The figure at the center of the five stank of Morgenstern's blood.

Jace's fingers tightened on the hilt of his blade and he prepared to leap into the fray. He wouldn't allow Morgenstern to invade his home and take anything else away from any of the people he loved. He took a deep breath, curled his toes against the cold marble, and jumped out from behind the corner where he had been crouched in dead silence. Jace was the perfect predator—he had been training for this exact moment for years—yet it was a simple matter for everything to change.

The Silent Brother turned, lifting a gnarled hand, and spoke directly into Jace's mind. 'Stop, young Wayland.'

Jace skidded to a halt, his bare feet not finding any purchase until he nearly collided with the Silent Brother. "What?" he demanded, heart still pumping out adrenaline that hadn't yet reached his brain. "But that's Morgenstern! I can tell!"

'Yes,' the Silent Brother said. 'It is.'

One of the other shadowed figures summoned witchlight from his palm, illuminating all the faces of the five assembled in the hallway save that of the Silent Brother. Hodge Starkweather studied Jace, his face lined with concern for his young charge. Two other Shadowhunters that Jace didn't recognize—a woman with platinum hair and a man with far too much scraggly beard—stood behind Hodge. Between them so that they each held one of the binding chains was Morgenstern.

Jace leaned in, his breath coming short with mingled eagerness and rage.

But Hodge lifted the witchlight, angling it so it could fall over the face of the prisoner between the two other Shadowhunters. Standing in chain was not Jace's greatest and most hated enemy. It was not Valentine Morgenstern.

In fact, the prisoner didn't look like a treacherous foe at all. It was a young girl, maybe Jace's age, and the side of her face was covered in dried blood. One of her bright green eyes was swollen shut and her lip was split. Her hair was the color of old blood and tangled violently. She didn't look capable of harming anyone or of being part of Valentine's Circle. She was scrawny and she was short. Even so, Jace knew what he sensed.

"She's a Morgenstern?" he demanded of Hodge.

Hodge nodded, but it was the Silent Brother who spoke. 'She is Valentine's daughter, Clarissa Morgenstern.'

Jace couldn't speak. For years he had wanted to have Valentine in front of him. He had fantasized about plunging his blade into his enemy's heart, about ripping him limb from limb with all the fruits of his Shadowhunter training, about watching him suffer, about watching him die slowly and painfully. But now…

"Why is she here?" Jace hissed, stuffing his blade out of sight.

'To be interrogated and imprisoned until something can be decided,' the Silent Brother said shortly. Then, without further explanation, he turned and spoke silently into the minds of the other two Shadowhunters. Without looking back, the three of them guided the prisoner down the hallway.

It was Hodge who lingered, his witchlight illuminating dark spots of blood that stained the floor where the girl had been standing. "Go back to bed, Jace," he said cautiously. "We can talk about this in the morning, okay?"

Jace didn't agree immediately but he knew Hodge was right. Instead, he asked, "She'll still be here in the morning?"

Hodge nodded. "She should be here for a few weeks. We're the closest Institute to the Silent City and also the emptiest. The Brothers will be traveling back and forth to interrogate her and they wanted her kept nearby, but also under protection and secrecy. We don't want Valentine taking her back."

The name hung in the air between them like a coiled snake, ready to strike.

Jace eyed his mentor. "Will she still be alive in the morning?"

Hodge tried not to let the surprise show on his face. He knew Jace was wrathful when it came to Valentine Morgenstern, but he had never expected the boy's wrath to extend to a girl his own age merely because she was Valentine's daughter. He had thought Jace's hatred was more contained than that and this worried him. "Jace," he began.

Jace cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Never mind," he said, "I'll see you in the morning then."

"Jace," Hodge tried again, but the boy had already gone beyond the perimeter of the witchlight and vanished into the darkness. Barefoot, his steps were silent and he was gone like a ghost.

Knowing a Morgenstern was under his roof made it impossible to sleep. Instead, Jace lay awake for hours, teasing the edge of his Seraph blade between his fingers. He would have gotten out of bed and wandered the Institute as he usually did when he couldn't sleep, but he knew his feet would lead him right to the holding cells in the basement. If the Silent Brother caught him prowling there after Valentine's daughter, there would be hell to pay.

The blade hummed, thirsty for Morgenstern blood, and Jace couldn't help but understand its feelings. He could still sense the black presence of Valentine's daughter lurking in the basement like some kind of hideously spreading mold. He rolled over, staring at the array of weapons on his nightstand. Maybe tomorrow, he could use one of his favorite weapons on Valentine's daughter. It would be a nice little taste of the vengeance he wanted to visit upon Valentine.

…

Jace had finally dozed off around four in the morning and as such woke up later than usual. In his pajamas, he made his way to the Institute's large kitchen and found that Alec and Isabelle were already awake. Alec had dressed already and was looking as ready as ever. Isabelle, on the other hand, was proudly displaying her ability to look good in anything and under any circumstances.

"Morning," Jace said to them both as he took the carton of orange juice from the fridge.

For a moment, neither of his friends answered and he cautiously ran a hand over his hair. Was it sticking straight up or something? Finding all to be in order, Jace turned to face them, giving them both a sternly inquiring look. "What's with the silent treatment?"

It was Alec who looked away first and Isabelle who asked him, "Didn't you hear?"

"About what?" Jace asked.

Isabelle looked nervous, glancing into her tea.

Alec broke in. "They caught Valentine's daughter and brought her here."

Jace rolled his shoulders and poured himself a glass of juice. "Yeah, I know," he said nonchalantly.

Isabelle's head snapped up, dark curls tumbling over her bare shoulders. "You already knew?"

"Yeah," he explained. "It woke me up last night when she was brought in."

"Jace," Isabelle ventured. "Are you going to be okay? I mean, Valentine—"

"Butchered my parents?" Jace cut in as sharply as any blade. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Even better when they catch that bastard and make him pay for what he did. His daughter should be a nice bargaining chip and a good source of information." There was a cruel glint in Jace's golden eyes that was thoroughly that of a predator, but belonged to no animal that Alec had ever seen. It was a humanistic gleam—the only animal who killed for pleasure.

"Jace," Alec interrupted, but Jace smoothly changed the subject.

"So, we should get some training done today. I need to take my mind off this whole mess," he said and lifted a hand to run through his hair. Just like that, the terrible flash was gone from his eyes and he smiled charmingly. "Maybe I can kick your ass, Isabelle."

She bristled, never one to back down from a challenge. "You are so on!" She jumped up from her seat, clearly prepared to get started right away now that her pride had been called into it.

But Jace lazily took a carton of eggs from the fridge and moved towards the stove without looking at her. He took out a pan and cracked several eggs into it, watching them sizzle over the heat while Isabelle sizzled behind him.

"Jace," she demanded.

"After breakfast, Isabelle," he said. "You'd better eat or your chest will get smaller."

Her fist sailed harmlessly past his ear since he had angled his head just enough to avoid it.

Alec snorted and began removing sausages from the fridge along with some bagels. "Must you tease her, Jace?"

"Certainly," he said smoothly. "It's good for my ego."

Flipping back her dark curls, Isabelle didn't dignify that with a response and instead stalked away from the stove to allow the two boys to prepare breakfast. It was better for her ego that way. She sat at the table, watching them work closely together, and couldn't help but smile. The three of them, despite their differences, really did make a great team.

…

Hodge didn't want to talk to Jace about Valentine's daughter so he had made himself scarce all that morning, aiding the Silent Brothers as best he could. He had expected Jace to bury himself in the routine of training for the day, venting his aggression in as healthy a way as he could, but he had not excepted to find Jace in the library as the day drew to a close. The boy had showered and changed, eaten dinner with Isabelle and Alec, and now he was ready for his promised talk.

"Has the Silent Brother left?" Jace asked, his arms folded over his chest as he leaned on the threshold of the library.

"For tonight, yes," Hodge said tiredly.

"How'd it go with Morgenstern's daughter?"

"Jace," Hodge began.

"I want to see her," Jace interrupted immediately.

"What? No, you can't—"

"Hodge, Valentine murdered my parents. I want to see her."

"You can't kill her, Jace!"

His golden eyes flashed. "Who said I would?"

"I know you're upset and I know how much you hate Valentine, but you can't kill her. She's too important."

Jace rolled his eyes. "Hodge, I'm not going to kill her. Why do you always have to assume the worst of me?"

Hodge eyed his young ward, shame and worry welling up in his chest. He didn't know the depths of Jace's hatred. He didn't know was Jace would do if he got close to Clarissa Morgenstern. Would he kill her? Would he torture her? Would he do nothing at all?

The raven perched on his shoulder ruffled his feathers and gave a plaintive caw as if to say that he would rather see Valentine's daughter dead just as Jace did. Hodge shushed Hugo, stroking his sleek feathers. "Jace," he said again.

"Five minutes," Jace broke in. "Give me five minutes."

Hodge sighed heavily. Little could be done for suffering children and since Jace had seen his father butchered before his eyes, there had always been very little that Hodge could do for the boy. He often merely indulged him in the things he wanted and did his best to raise Jace into a good person. Sometimes, he wondered if anything he did had done any good. "Alright," he relented.

Jace smiled in a way that said he'd always known he would get what he wanted.

Hodge removed the key to the dungeons from a ring at his hip, turned his back to Jace, and drew a small rune on the key's stem. "Be back here with this key in ten minutes before the rune wears off," he said firmly. "If not, you won't be getting out of the dungeons tonight and the Silent Brothers can decide what to do with you when they come in tomorrow." Jace had always been creeped out by the Silent Brothers so that was the best threat Hodge could muster.

"Yeah, sure," Jace said and eagerly took the key from Hodge. He turned on his heel and hurried from the library, footsteps light.

"Oh, Hugo," Hodge murmured to the bird. "What should I do with that boy?"

The bird cawed in response, but if he had a good idea, Hodge didn't understand it. He moved to the window and looked out over the city of New York. It was raining outside, the night sky was dark and moonless, and all the silly humans hurried about beneath their umbrellas without a clue about what went on behind the veil that their eyes could not see through.

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(1) I know this guy has about forty-five last names so I'm just going to stick with the one I got from the first book.

Please read this story and all its **updates** in its intended content on the new site, **Archive of Our Own. **(This story will be updated on Mondays.)

Questions, comments, concerns?

Review!


	2. Meeting and Distractions

New chapter posted on Archive of Our Own! (Link in the first chapter.)

This story will only be updated on Archive of Our Own and this is the only time I will post a notice like this. I will update this story every Monday, so check back.

Thank you!


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